My grandmother’s stage name was Linda Preston when she was younger, and she recorded this song under her stage name, so I can only guess she recorded it in the ’40s. When she was older, her screen name was Audrey Arent when she acted in TV commercials and as an extra in such movies as King Kong (1976), Turning Point, and Network. She was my maternal grandmother, and the second photo in the slideshow at the beginning is of her holding my mother when my mother was a newborn baby. You can also see Grandma with me when I was a little boy.

This video is closed-captioned for the signing impaired.

I think I got high on the thin air up at the mile-high altitude of Jerome, Arizona. There I was, taking a video of the beautiful panorama around me, when the beauty of Nature inspired me to sing! Ah-ha! Oo-hoo! Ha ha!

This song sums up how I feel about meeting my life partner, Andy, five years ago this weekend.

The song is “Lucky To Be Me” by Leonard Bernstein from the musical On The Town. The lyrics (edit: by Betty Comden & Adolph Green) are:

I used to think it might be fun to be
Anyone else but me.
I thought that it would be a pleasant surprise
To wake up as a couple of other guys.
But now that I’ve found you,
I’ve changed my point of view,
And now I wouldn’t give a dime to be
Anyone else but me.

What a day,
Fortune smiled and came my way,
Bringing love I never thought I’d see,
I’m so lucky to be me.
What a night,
Suddenly you came in sight,
Looking just the way I’d hoped you’d be,
I’m so lucky to be me.
I am simply thunderstruck
At the change in my luck:
Knew at once I wanted you,
Never dreamed you’d want me, too.
I’m so proud
You chose me from all the crowd,
There’s no other guy I’d rather be,
I could laugh out loud,
I’m so lucky to be me.

A few notes on my performance: I know I have affectations in my singing and acting. I don’t know how to get rid of them. I feel like a parody of myself. And I know my pitch isn’t perfect. This was the 11th take, and there’s only so much time I can spend on this. There are other ways I can show my love for Andy, such as helping to pack for our camping trip this weekend.

I’m not saying this because I’m anticipating anyone’s criticism, and I’m not saying it to fish for compliments. I’m just saying it because it may be what’s holding me back in my performance, and I need to get over it. It’s more important for me to share this song the best I can sing it for now than to wait until I’m perfectly satisfied with it. I’ve been planning to sing this song, recorded it, and share it on the web for weeks now, and I won’t let my imperfection stop me.

In commemoration of our two-year wedding anniversary, I published a video of myself singing a song I wrote for Andy last Valentine’s Day. (I put this on YouTube on our anniversary, August 8, but I’m just getting around to blogging about it here now.)